question on coolant reservoir.....

[bgaviator69]

we noticed today while trying to diagnose my a/c system, that there was a little bit of coolant splashed up on the air filter cover, and the top of the coolant reservoir was wet with coolant too. We could see no leaks out of the hoses, so it almost looked like to us that coolant was maybe coming out from the cap on the reservoir. We took the cap off and noticed there is no type of rubber gasket at all on my cap, which seemed odd......

Question: is there supposed to be a rubber gasket around that reservoir cap to help seal it? plastic on plastic just doesn't seem like it would be able to keep fluid in. Thanks.

 

[CHILD]

no there isn't supposed to be a gasket of any sort there

 

[Trekk]

If its overfilled too much it could do that. Or perhaps you have a bad radiator cap.

 

[SpeedTechnik]

Start this video at 17:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUzOTnsWImI

Too much water in your reservoir can cause overflow due to higher pressure.

 

[bgaviator69]

no there isn't supposed to be a gasket of any sort there

I saw on this web site I've ordered parts from called Sons Honda that in the parts diagram for the coolant reservoir for my year civic, they were showing what looked like a gasket for the cap, but they didn't call it a gasket they called it a "seat." Is this something different.
As far as the radiator cap, so even though I don't see coolant coming out of the radiator cap itself, because its coming out of the reservoir cap that could still indicate a bad radiator cap?

Here is a link to the parts diagram I saw that "seat". I believe it's part #5.

http://parts.sonshonda.com/showAssembly.aspx?ukey_assembly=275355&ukey_make=988&ukey_model=13654&modelYear=1997&ukey_category=21716&ukey_driveLine=6280&ukey_trimLevel=12108